Asus has just started shipping its latest sub $200 toy, and this 8-inch tablet is now available via Best Buy.

The new tablet from the house of Asus is called the ZenPad 8. It has an iPad mini 3 2048x1536 resolution and Intel Atom Z3530 processor. The CPU works at 1.33GHz, which should be enough to power this Android 5.1 tablet. The tablet comes with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, and the more we write about it, the more we realize it is quite a good deal for the money.

The Intel Atom Z3530 use to be known under the name of Moorefield and this is four cores with four treads 22nm design. It is interesting that Intel doesn’t list a TDP or SDP value for this processor even on its official product website.

We would not be surprised if this is one of these subsidised tablets that Intel, and the fact that it is just 0.27 inches (6.85 mm) thick will definitely help its cause.

If you are one of the people who take picture with your tablets there is a 5 megapixel camera on it, and the selfie camera that you will probably should use for video chat only comes with a 2-megapixel sensor.

The deal seems to be a Best Buy exclusive for now and it can be ordered online or picked up in your local store. The fact that this tablet has Android 5.1 will definitely help amke it a bit more attractive, but be aware that Asus tends to pack its tablets with some unnecessary bloatware and a certain level of customisation.

Best Buy has confirmed via its web site that it is no longer accepting pre-orders for the Xbox One console. A simple “Sold Out Online” message appears on the Xbox One page on the web site. The company is also no longer accepting pre-orders for the Xbox One at the local store level, confirmed after a quick call to the Best Buy store in our area. It isn’t clear if Best Buy will attempt to increase its initial allocation of units to allow for additional pre-orders or not.

While Best Buy did stop accepting pre-orders for the Xbox One, it is still accepting pre-orders for the PlayStation 4. Other major retailers, including GameStop, are still accepting pre-orders for the Xbox One. (GameStop cut off pre-orders for the PS4 as we reported yesterday.)

It is not yet clear how long pre-orders will continue be available for the PlayStation 4, which we believe is closer to having its initial allocation sold out than the Xbox One is. The other unknown at the moment is what the actual totals of these pre-orders equal in actual consoles ordered. We can’t stress enough that if you are planning to have one of these consoles on launch day, we recommend that you move toward getting your pre-order in soon, as we are expecting availability for the PlayStation 4 to be exceptionally tight and it is looking more like the Xbox One availability will also be tight.

Samsung is apparently preparing to launch the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Student Edition scheduled to appear on Best Buy's shelves around August 19th.

According to a post over at Engadget.com, the upcoming Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Student Edition, keeps the 8GB WiFi US $249 price tag but throws in a keyboard dock and USB peripheral adapter as a bonus. Although it is still a bit more expensive than the Nexus 7, the dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP, 1024x600 screen and Android 4.0 ICS are still a pretty good deal. It also has a microSD card slot so it is not limited by 8GB of internal storage.

Best Buy has announced that it will be closing at least 50 retail stores during its Q4 conference call. The company posted mixed earnings, and will be embarking on an $800 million dollar multi-year cost reduction program that will make the company more efficient as well as better align the company with sales opportunities going forward.

In addition, Best Buy will be opening new stand-alone Best Buy Mobile locations, with the company hoping to open 100 of these this year. The company will also be deploying what they call a “Connected Store” format; this decreases square footage while focusing on customer service and multi-channel sales experiences.

Best Buy will also be enhancing its Best Buy Rewards program. The company will continue its Best Buy To Go Kiosk operations in hopes of being able to gain a foothold with this business model. They will be training and rewarding their employees for outstanding customer service as the company will also focus on this for its business model.

Best Buy has confirmed that it will close its 11 stores in the U.K. before the end of the year. The move comes as the company confirms its plans to buy out Carphone Warehouse in its joint U.S. mobile phone venture.

Best Buy confirms its consultation with its employees on the closure of the stores in the days ahead. Best Buy apparently is confident that it can redeploy a good number of the employees into jobs in other areas of business.

Best Buy intends to have all 11 U.K. stores closed before the end of this calendar year to stop the bleeding. While the stores initially opened with a bang, the company has not been able to sustain the sales levels to make the stores profitable.

Warner Bros is running an interesting bonus for those buying the Extended Cut version of the Green Lantern that will be arriving this Friday. Apparently, if you can find one of these Extended Cut versions of the Green Lantern on Blu-ray at Best Buy, you can get an additional Batman: Arkham City costume.

The included code is only for PlayStation 3 owners, and the extra consume is a costume for the Sinestro Corps (which is a team of bad guys that once attempted to recruit Batman into their ranks). The team is led by ex-Green Lantern Corps member, Sinestro.

Sources tell us that currently it is undecided if the costume will be offered as DLC later on or if the only way to get it will be from Best Buy by buying the Extended Cut Green Lantern Blu-ray. The source we spoke with did tell us, however, to look for more cross promotions between the Warner Bros Home Video group and the Warner Bros Interactive software group as time goes on; as this is the first of what is expected to be a pretty regular thing between the two divisions going forward if it continues to prove to be successful.

Sources from the men in blue confirm that Best Buy will begin selling the iPhone in white on both AT&T and Verizon starting on April 27th.

Although the white colored version was announced at the launch of the 4th generation iPhone, a number of production issues apparently delayed the release of the white version of the iPhone. Many are still eagerly awaiting the white colored version.

According to the whispers that we hear, the white version should also make its way to other distribution sources for buyers in the same time frame. Perhaps the most interesting surprise is that the white colored version will arrive for both carriers at the same time, which means that neither will have an advantage as the only carrier to have the white colored version.

As the launch of Apple’s fourth-generation smartphone rapidly approaches, the controversy surrounding the pre-ordering mess that ensued last Tuesday has given incentive for many unsuspecting individuals to wait in long lines at their local retail stores in hopes of receiving a unit on launch day tomorrow.

Image taken by Gizmodo

As we reported earlier, demand for this particular iPhone release is ten times higher than the first day pre-orders of the iPhone 3GS last June. Apple’s ordering and reservation system saw an unexpected 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4 within just 10 hours of going online, and the extraordinarily high volume of requests managed to crash its system as well as AT&T’s system almost entirely. In addition to the toppling PR disaster for both companies was the fact that several thousand AT&T wireless customer accounts were being mistakenly cross-referenced with other customer accounts, resulting in massive privacy breaches where one user’s information would end up in the hands of someone completely different.

Due to its lack of foresight, Apple is having a very difficult job trying to meet consumer demands with the quantity of units it will have available in its supply chain when it comes time to launch tomorrow. The company has given RadioShack, Best Buy and WalMart the go-ahead to sell the iPhone 4 on launch day to retail store customers on a first-come, first-served basis. Unlike Best Buy and RadioShack, however, Walmart did not offer pre-order for the new device and has instead opted to leave availability open to the braving few who line up on launch day. Many analysts are predicting that Apple’s partnership with WalMart, the largest retail chain in the US, will return a significant sales margin of iPhone 4 units sold in comparison to the other retail locations and will make an impression on iPad sales if it decides to sell them by the end of the year.

A few hours ago, a news tipster sent Engadget two photos of the final retail packaging of the iPhone 4, indicating the device has arrived at WalMart and Best Buy storehouses in time for launch. Engadget’s own Joshua Topolsky has already published his review of the iPhone 4 an entire day and a half before official launch. Rest assured, we will be following up with our own comprehensive review of the device over the weekend.

Apple product owners in Southern California will be getting a special treat this Thursday, as the company will also be opening a new retail store in southeast Los Angeles County to coincide with the iPhone 4 launch. The new store will hold its grand opening between 7am and 9am PST and will officially be named Apple Store Los Cerritos, located at the Los Cerritos Mall in Cerritos, California. Regular store hours will be Monday through Friday from 10am to 8pm, Saturday from 10am to 8pm and Sunday from 11am to 7pm. In what seems to be an effort to take a bite from Apple, however, Microsoft is also opening its fourth retail store in Southern California on Thursday at San Diego’s Fashion Valley Mall. The store will be the second to open in the region alongside one of the company’s first retail stores in Mission Viejo, Calif. that had its grand opening on October 29, 2009.

Image taken by Steven Georges / Press-Telegram

In addition, Apple plans to open another twenty two stores during this fiscal year, half of which will be opening outside the US.